Chapter Text
Chapter 2
Barry's pov
No, no, no. It couldn't be.
Barry was sitting down on the floor of his bathroom, resting the back of his head on the wall with his hands trembling on top of his bent knees. He bit his lip to not cry.
It stopped working.
The tests he just made on himself showed that his suppressors, the ones he modified to work even with his accelerated metabolism, were losing their effects.
And he knew why.
Of course he did, because a little part of him already expected it since the moment he made the decision to break his main rule.
To travel back in time.
Not that Barry regretted it, he didn't! Making that decision was what saved his friends' lives and the rest of the world, and he would never feel bad for it.
But that didn't mean there wouldn't be consequences, and he would have to face them now.
He realized that the effects were decreasing through the months since the day he ran faster than the speed of light. But at that moment, there would be no way that they would hide his scent and contain his heat.
Just the mere thought caused Barry to shiver and wrap his arms around himself, in a useless attempt to try and comfort himself.
It had been 11 years since the first time he had a heat; or smelled that overwhelmingly sweet and confusingly spicy scent coming from himself.
And he would experience all of it again in a few days. Barry wasn't ready to lose everything, to have his new life ruined; not so soon.
But he would have to be prepared for reality. He couldn't stay in the League much longer. Even though it was clear they wanted omegas on the team, Barry knew why and he just couldn't do it.
He wanted to keep the good memories of what he thought was his family, his pack. Barry smiled bitterly, feeling tears fill his eyes. He wanted to remember the way Victor grinned when they watched a football game together, the trace of the sadness in his face disappearing as he talked about the movements.
To never forget Arthur's provoking laughter after he defeated one of them during training, or how Diana caressed his head after he did well in a mission.
Barry wanted to remember Bruce showing him around the cave and letting him play with his gadgets, or the day Superman visited him at his job as Clark.
Which was easily one of the best days of his life.
That was why he couldn't have it all stained by how they would treat him when he revealed himself as an omega.
It would be better this way.
At least, Barry would still have his dad and his new job. He thought as he washed the few tears rolling down his face, giving a shaky smile as he stood up.
He could live with that, he just had to figure out an excuse for why he would leave the League. But maybe... just maybe, Barry could wait a few days until the effects truly disappeared.
It wasn't a smart decision, but he would just take extra care.
Barry could make it.
He didn't know what having friends, a pack, really was since the terrible day his mother was killed, and his father falsely accused. But now, Barry never felt so lucky to be able to experience it, even though in a few days he would have to let it go.
He would forget about it for now and enjoy it as much as possible while he still could.
"So, what are we watching? It better be good." Arthur questioned as he sat on the other side of Victor, crossing his arms. The King was wearing jeans, a dark blue tank top and a jacket.
"Don't look at me. Barry is the one that will choose it, the idea was his. And he said it's good." Victor snorted and shrugged, putting his arms behind him and Arthur, a relaxed smile on his face as he was wearing grey sweatshirts and pants.
He liked to see his best friend like that.
"It is good! I'm surprised neither of you have watched it yet." Barry exclaimed with a pout, giving a weak punch to Victor's shoulder.
He would have never dared to do that before, and he still couldn't with any of his Alphas friends, but now the teasing was just so natural between him and the true Beta.
If felt safe to be done.
"We have no time for movies… but, we'll see." Arthur said arrogantly but then smirked, which meant he was amused either by the idea of the movie being actually good or not.
Barry honestly never knew, but it was Arthur's way.
"Victor, come help us." Diana's voice came from the kitchen, where her and Clark were getting the snacks as Bruce changed his armor for normal clothes.
They were in the living room, a wide area divided in two parts by a great wall with a glass door that led to the kitchen right beside it.
"I'm coming." Victor shouted back, sighing and getting up. "It's always me. Never the speedster." He grunted in exasperation.
"I can hear you." Diana scolded, and even though they couldn't see her face, her tone wasn't serious, which caused Barry to laugh.
"What can I do? She has her favorites." Barry shrugged and put his hand on his mouth to control his laughter when Victor gave him the middle finger.
"I saw that, Victor." Clark's disapproving voice echoed and his best friend made a face, walking inside the kitchen with an apologizing look.
Nothing ever missed Superman's vision.
Barry stopped laughing, turning to look at Arthur, who was raising an eyebrow and facing him with an exasperated look. He swallowed and cleared, "Sooo… Arthur, how is it going in Atlantis?" Barry questioned with a clumsy smile.
Arthur always had that effect on him. With his Alpha's posture, intimidating eyes and strong presence, he was exactly what Barry heard about typical Alphas.
But at the same time something changed since they had that talk, when Arthur asked about Victor and showed so much concern for his best friend- like Barry only ever saw a few Alphas show to Betas.
He started to see him in a different light.
"Complicated. Much more than I thought it would be. Atlanteans are as little bitches as humans, but more likely to kick your ass." Arthur answered with a groan, leaning over the sofa.
"That's… bad. But you can do it, right? I mean, it mustn't be easy, but you'll be fine. You have super powers, don't you? Not that you can't get hurt-" Barry started to mumble, but then interrupted himself when he remembered how this bothered Arthur.
"I just meant that I'm sure you can take it." He finished and rubbed the back of his head, nodding his head and looking away to the TV.
The awkward silence took over the place as minutes passed, making Barry pray to any God that the others were back already.
"You don't have to do that, you know." Arthur said suddenly, scaring Barry for a moment before he glanced at the King. He saw that he wasn't facing him, but there was no one else in the room.
It could only have been to him.
"Stop doing what?" Barry asked hesitantly, biting his lip nervously.
"Talking. Mumbling. Whatever you keep doing. I know it seems like it bothers me, but I don't mind." Arthur declared and finally looked at him, his eyes strangely gentle, "Don’t stop. It's your thing, part of who you are. You don't have to stop being you for me."
That was… unexpected. It always seemed like Arthur was annoyed when he did that, but the Alpha wasn't one for lying.
He was actually too honest.
Barry involuntarily grinned with the acceptance, "Okay. I won't." He said and saw Arthur give a little smile. The silence that came wasn't as awkward as before.
"They didn’t finish it yet, did they? I knew I should have done it myself." Bruce's voice called their attention as he entered the living room, wearing a green t-shirt and black sweatpants, bare feet.
"That's what you said about the Mansion, and we know what happened, Bruce." Diana teased and smiled reproachfully, coming out of the kitchen with the sodas in her hands and Clark and Victor carrying the snacks behind her.
She was wearing jeans just like Arthur, with a red shirt while Clark wore a light blue t-shirt and sweatpants.
"At least I'm not a disaster in the kitchen like Clark." Bruce retorted and smirked when Clark blushed.
"He isn't wrong, Supes." Victor commented with a chuckle, his mechanical arms coming from behind his back and grabbing the snacks from Clark's hands.
"That's mean, Bruce. You know I try, and I'm getting better." Clark sighed but walked to Bruce and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth, definitely not aggressive behavior.
That still weirded Barry out.
Of course he heard about Alpha/Alpha relationships, but it was always a violent sexual one, nothing like Bruce and Clark's. Maybe it was Lois' influence, or the fact that Supes was a gentle Alpha even with the ability of destroying the world.
They were lucky he didn't happen to be a villain, some minutes of evil Superman was already enough for a life.
"Oh, c'mon. Let's just watch the movie." Arthur rolled his eyes and grabbed the soda that Diana offered him, easily opening and taking a sip of it, making a face.
No alcohol on movie nights. Diana was responsible for that rule and, well, none of them dared to try to change it.
Not even Arthur, who really liked alcohol.
"Arthur's right. Bruce and Clark will leave after the movie to Lois’, so everyone sit together." Diana ordered, and they all obeyed.
Barry and Arthur got up to let Bruce, Clark and Diana pass to sit behind them on the back part of the sofa, like they always did. Barry ended up sitting in the middle of Arthur and Victor, which wasn't normal. But when the King pulled him to his side, neither him nor Victor questioned it.
It didn't feel bad though.
"Thanks for agreeing to this, Bruce." Barry grinned excitedly and looked back at the Alpha, seeing him give a little smile.
"No worries, it will be good for the team anyway." Bruce said thoughtfully but then frowned, seeming to smell the air.
"Are you using a new cologne, Barry? Is it… sweeter?" Bruce questioned suspiciously, causing Barry to freeze for a second.
"I smelled the difference too. It's like nothing I ever smelled." Clark commented softly, not realizing how much he was putting Barry into a panic.
It was okay, they didn't realize it yet. He just had to go along with it.
"Yeah!" Barry exclaimed too loud, looking between all his friends, "It's for… the dogs. The ones I take care of twice a week. It calms them down."
Really, Barry? The dogs? He scolded himself in his mind, feeling the eyes of the Alphas on him.
"Cool. So, the movie. Are we going to watch it or not?" Victor- the best friend in the whole world who he would have to thank a lot later- questioned, passing the snacks to everyone as Diana did the same with the sodas.
Barry turned, and even though he could sense Bruce's look on the back of his head, he tried to relax.
"Yes, Victor, you can put it on." Clark said and Victor turned down the lights, playing the movie.
At first, Barry couldn't help but stay tense, waiting for the moment that Bruce would declare that Barry was an omega and drag him to that room. And of course the others would believe in him, it was Bruce.
But as the minutes passed, and Barry compulsively ate the snacks and drank soda, gaining some amused looks from Arthur and complaints from Victor, he started to relax.
He glanced back sometimes, but only saw Clark leaning on Bruce's shoulder, who was focused on the movie, apparently. And Diana resting her head beside the human Alpha's, causing them all to seem very at… peace.
Barry wasn't used to seeing Alphas like that, but he liked it.
When they were in the middle of the movie, Barry involuntarily felt himself start to fall asleep, his body leaning onto Arthur's. If he was in the right state of mind, he would have realized that his head was already on the King's shoulder, but he couldn't even keep his eyes open.
Arthur's scent didn't help him stay awake either, the mix of lemon pepper and a salty, fresh smell he exuded relaxing Barry's mind.
It was like a fog took over his mind, shutting down all the alarms ringing inside his brain, trying to tell him to get out of there.
And maybe he would have heard them.
But when Victor's body leaned on his, his best friend's head resting in the junction of his shoulder and neck, right on his scent gland, Barry was doomed.
Victor's chamomile and nutmeg scent permeated through him, causing the fog in his mind to grow even thicker, a sense of safety and home taking over him.
Yeah, it was good.
So good that the movie passed like a blur. That Barry slipped between consciousness and unconsciousness. When it ended, he opened his eyes a bit and watched Clark and Bruce carefully leave the room with caring expressions on their faces, but a caress of his hair made him smile and close them again.
It was Diana.
With that reassuring thought, Barry marked the memory he would take with him forever- getting comfortable and just enjoying the way he was feeling during his last night with his family.
With his pack.
It was worth it.
Everything was going well.
It truly was!
Of course, after the last incident, he was using more cologne to hide his scent; and that gave him many comments from Arthur and Victor. He also could feel Bruce's eyes following him every time they were in the same room, making Barry wonder if the greatest detective in the world knew about his secret.
He couldn't know. There were no registers that Barry was an omega because his adoptive family didn't want to have the shame of reporting that. So there was no way of him finding out.
Right?
And it didn't help that his whole body ached all the time. Or that him eating more than usual, which was already a lot, was making Bruce even more suspicious.
If that was what the tip of a heat was, then Barry already hated it.
But then everything went south too fast. And that said a lot about it when he was a speedster.
He still had a day until his heat was here, and he wanted to participate in one last mission.
Him, Bruce and Victor were in the middle of a mission against some terrorists in London, while Clark, Diana and Arthur were on another one in Brazil. Bruce was taking down as many of the terrorists as he could to give Victor time to hack their system and determine which buildings the bombs were in.
He was in charge of supporting them, clearing the eight blocks of civilians while looking for the bombs and disarming them with Victor's help. Which was a piece of cake, until Bruce called for him.
"Flash, check the second block again. Some of the terrorists escaped from me and I think they are going for one of the bombs." Batman ordered, a grunt coming from the communication line telling Barry why he couldn't do it himself.
"Batman may be right. They have blueprints of three buildings on that block, it's highly probable there's one between the three of them." Victor informed.
"Okay, guys, I got this." Barry said with a smirk and ran towards the three buildings, checking the first two and not seeing anything different besides the fact they were empty.
His fault.
When he arrived in the third building, he looked in its basement, finding the bomb inside an old wardrobe. But when he was about to inform them, Barry felt as if someone stabbed his stomach.
"Argh." He moaned in pain, thanking that the communicator lines were closed, and fell to his knees, putting his hands on his belly.
Barry could hardly breathe, whining and groaning as the cramps grew even stronger. He started to sweat and felt fresh slick drip down his thighs.
"No, no, no. Not now. Not now." Barry whispered in horror, his cheeks getting red as he fell to the ground on his side, his heart beating so fast that he could hear it.
His sickening scent seemed to permeate throughout the place, reminding him of his first heat.
He bit his lip to not scream from the pain, squirming on the ground and trying to lessen the pain somehow. It hurt, so much.
It was like his skin was burning everywhere, his nerves on fire.
"Ohh, look what we got here, guys." A voice and the noises of steps caused Barry's hair to stand on end, making him feel like a cold water bucket was thrown at him.
The terrorists.
Alphas. Five of them.
"No," Barry whined, frightened. He tried to drag himself to the corner of the basement but cried out in agony when the movement just hurt him more.
"Aww, he is trying to run away from us." The closer Alpha, who seemed to be the leader, laughed mockingly and approached him.
"Stay away!" Barry shouted, groaning when the Alpha leader snarled and kicked him in his stomach.
"Ahhh!" He screamed in pain, whimpering as the same Alpha leaned over him and grabbed his hair, pushing it to show his neck to him and the others.
Barry wanted to fight, he truly did. He knew what would happen, and he didn't want it, but he just couldn't fight. It was the first time he felt so vulnerable since the day he presented, but back then he was just a scared kid and not a hero.
"You see, guys? That's why omegas' place is warming our beds, and not pretending to be a hero." The leader Alpha snarled in scorn in his ear as if he had read Barry's thoughts, causing him to whine and shrink in fear and shame.
He didn't believe in that, but he couldn't help but feel that in a way the Alpha was right. Neither of his friends would ever pass through this, they would never be so weak and incapable of protecting themselves like he was.
Barry didn't deserve to be a hero.
"Please, no." Barry begged quietly, making an attempt to activate his power but feeling his whole being burned when he did that, whimpering below the leader Alpha.
"Soon you'll be begging us to fuck you ever harder, omega, like you should." The Alpha leader smirked and easily turned Barry onto his belly, not caring about his moans of pain and panic.
His scent wasn't like any of Barry's friends'. It smelled like rotten eggs, overwhelming Barry and exuding throughout the whole place.
He knew that he could just call Victor and Bruce through the communication line and they would come. Barry knew that. And he wanted to do it, but he just couldn't.
Breathing hard and crying as he looked at the ground, he felt the Alpha leader touch his body and try to take off his armor while the other Alphas opened their own pants and approached.
Even then, so close to suffering what he was always afraid of, Barry was more scared of what would happen if he called Bruce and Victor.
They would save him from those Alphas, that was for sure. But only because Alphas are territorial, and Victor a good person. But he knew that as soon as they saw him like this, it would be no different from what was happening right now.
Maybe Victor would stay out of it, because of their friendship, but Bruce wouldn't; and neither would his other friends when Bruce took him to the Mansion.
They just couldn't stop themselves. And Barry wouldn't be able to handle it.
He preferred to be raped by these unknown Alphas than suffer at his own family's hands. After they were done with him, maybe Barry would finally be able to use his powers.
Then it would be just a matter of knocking them down, informing the others about the bomb and leaving to heal his wounds, the physicals and emotional ones.
Because Barry wasn't a fool, he knew it would hurt like hell.
But at least he wouldn't have to face the people he loved as they destroyed him.
"No… ugh, stop." He asked desperately when the Alpha leader licked and bit over his scent gland, other hands helping to get rid of his armor and expose his butt to the leader.
"Shut up!" One of the other Alphas growled, his scared whine causing all of them to laugh cruelly.
It was happening.
It was happening.
Barry couldn't take it. He wouldn't make it.
He wasn't strong enough.
"Get off him!" A rough voice echoed through the basement, one Barry knew well, making everyone freeze.
Batman's voice.